Car-coupling



(No Model.) F. A. WESTBROOK & W. S. 000K GAR GOUPLING.

No. 457,468. Patented Aug. 11,1891

* UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK A. WESTBROOK, OF PORT JERVIS, AND VINFIELD S. COOK, OF

" OTISVILLE, NEW YORK.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 457,468, dated August11, 1891. Application filed March '7, 1891- Serial No. 384,151. (Nomodel-l To all whom, it may concern..-

Be it known that we, FRANK A. WEST- BROOK, of Port Jervis, and WINFIELDS. COOK, of Otisville, in the county of Orange and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticOar-Couplings; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such-as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it,reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form part of thisspecification.

Our invention relates to an improvement in automatic car-couplings; andit consists, first, in the draw-head having suitable recesses and acurved hook, combined with a coupling-head provided with projections tocatch in the recesses in the head and with an opening through its rearend for the hook to pass through; second, in a coupling-hook providedwith a shoulder upon its inner corner, combined with a draw-head havingan opening through its top, a vertically-moving slotted lock, a pinwhich passes through the lock, and an operatingshaftprovided with a camfor raising the lock; third, in the arrangement and combination ofparts, which will be more fully described hereinafter.

The object of our invention is to provide a strong and durable automaticcoupler of the twin jaw class, and to provide. it with means forthrowing open the hook or knuckle with an uncoupling-lever from theoutside of the car.

Figure 1 is a horizontal section of a carcoupling which embodies ourinvention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same. Fig. 3is a front view of the drawhead alone. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of thehook or knuckle alone. A represents the draw-head, which is providedwith recesses B in the top and bottom of its front end, and which isprovided with the curved hook C, which extends horizontally from itsback and outer .wall. Through the top of this draw-head is formed asuitable opening, through which is passed the vertically-moving lock D,having a vertical slot E, through whichis passed astock-pin F to limitits upward movement. This slot E and pin F allow the lock D to dropfreely down into position, but prevent the look from being raisedsufliciently high to allow the hook or knuckle G to become displaced.The hook or knuckle G is preferably made of the shape shown, and isprovided with the projections H on its upper and lower sides forcatching in the recesses 13 in the draw-head, and thus preventing thehook or knuckle from having any lateral movement. The projections H donot have any strain brought to bear upon them, but allow the hook orknuckle to be freely drawn out of the head when the hook or knuckle isturned into the proper position for that purpose. Through the rear endof the hook or knuckle is formedacurved opening I, through which thecurved hook 0 passes forthe purpose of receiving the whole drawingstrain. This hook is made tapering, as shown in Fig. 1; but we do notlimit ourselves to any precise construction in this respect. Before thehook O can be made to enter the opening I the hook must have itsprojections H enter the recesses B in the draw-head, and then the hookis turned around, the lock being removed until the outer end of the hookenters the inner end of the opening I. The inner end of the hook orknuckle bears directly against the rear wall of the draw-head, and hencethe whole of the .buffing strain comes upon the rear wall of thedraw-head and none upon the hook O or the projections H. Upon the innerrear corner of the hook is formed a stop or shoulder J of any suitableconstruction, and which shoulder prevents the hook or knuckle from beingmoved around sufficiently far to be withdrawn from the draw-head as longas the lock D is in position. WVhen thelock D is raised by means of thecam L, secured to the inner portion of the operating shaft or rod N andthe pin F is in place, the hook or knuckle can be swung around until theshoulder J strikes against the lock D; but the hook can be moved nofarther until the pin F is removed, and then the lock D can be raisedsufficiently high to allow the shoulder J to pass under it.

Loosely fastened to the inner end of the operating-rod N is the plate N,which is not I caused to revolve when the rod is turned to that is madefor this purpose.

operate the cam L. This plate N engages with the shoulder O on thebottom of the inner end of the hook, so that after the cam has beenraised into an upright position and the rod N is drawn endwise towardthe side of the car the hook is pulled open ready to couple.

In order to limit the distance that the hook can be turned around insideof the draw-head after the lock D has been raised sufficiently high toallow the stop J to pass under it, the shoulders O are formed upon thetop and bottom of the outer end of the hook, and these shoulders strikeagainst the shoulders P of the draw-head. The operating-rod N, whichpasses horizontally through the side of the draw-head, can be operatedfrom the outer side of the draw-head, and thus allowthe hook Gto bethrown back at any time, either for the pn rpose of uncoupling the carsor to set the drawhead, so as to automatically couple with the nextadjoining draw-head. In the outer end of the hook is formed a horizontalopening to receive the end of the ordinary couplinglink, and throughthis link may be passed an ordinary coupling-pin, which is droppedthrough the vertical opening X in the hook Should the hook becomebroken, so as to be unfitted for use, the hook can be removed entirelyfrom the draw-head, and then a pin can be passed down through theopening Y, which is made in the draw-head.

If desired, upon the rear end of the hook will be formed shoulders whichwill catch inside of ribs or flanges formed inside of the draw-head. Wedo not limit ourselves to any particular manner of forming the stop orshoulder J upon the draw-head, for, if preferred, this stop may beformed upon the top and bottom edges of the inner end of the hook,

and these stops are made to form shoulders which catch againstcorresponding abutments formed in the draw-head, and upon theseshoulders will be brought the drawing strain instead of upon the hook C.(Shown in Fig.1.)

In the rear end of the draw-head is formed a recess or pocket of anysuitable depth, and in this pocket is placed a cushion W, against whichthe end of the slotted draft-bolt U bears. Through this draft-bolt andthe end of the draw-head is passed the bolt V, by means of which thedraft-bolt is secured to the couplin g-head. The slot through thedraftbolt is made wider than the bolt V, so that the bolt can have aslight back-and-forth play to compress the cushion without striking thepin. The object of this cushion is to relieve the draw-head and draftappliances from all dead or crushing blows.

We do not limit ourselves to any precise construction of parts as arehere shown, for

these may be varied at will without departing from the spirit of ourinvention.

Having thus described our invention, we claim- 1. Inacar-coupling,adraw-head anda jaw, one having pivotal recesses in theline of draft which have open outer ends and a horizontral projectionand the other pivotal projections which enter the said recesses, and ahorizontal opening for the reception of the said horizontal projection,substantially as shown.

2. In a car-coupling,a draw-head and a jaw combined, the respectivemembers having pivotal recesses with open outerends, a horizontalopening, pivotal projections which enter the said recesses, and ahorizontal projection which enters the said opening, the said openingand projection extending across the draft-line drawn through the saidpivotal recesses, the parts combined substantially as described.

3. The draw-head provided with an opening through its top, thelockmoving vertically therein and provided with a slot, the pin F, whichpasses through the slot, the operatingshaft, and the cam secured to theshaft for raising the lock, combined with the hook or knuckle having ashoulder or stop J formed thereon, substantially as set forth.

4. The draw-head provided with the recesses B in its outer end and theshoulders P, combined with the hook or knuckle having the projectionsHto catch in the recesses and the shoulders or flanges Oand having anopening through its rear end with the hook G, which is formed asapart ofthe draw-head, the Vertically-moving slotted block, the operating-cam,and the shaft secured to the cam, substantially as specified.

5. The draw-head having a pocket or recess formed in its rear end,combined with a cushion, the slotted draft-bar, and the pin or boltwhich is passed through both the drawhead and the draft-bar,substantially as shown.

6. The hook provided with a shoulder O on its inner lower corner,combined with the endwise-moving rod,-and the plate N',loosely appliedto the rod, substantially as described.

7. The pivoted hook and the verticallymoving lock D, combined with thepartly-revolving endwise-inoving rod N, the cam L,

and the plate I loosely attached to the rod, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix our-signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

FRANK A. WESTBROOK. IVINFIELD S. COOK.

Witnesses:

LUToN LANDFIELD, HENRY W. Wreerns.

ICO.

